Ireland's Worst Roads

dublinman1990

I was walking down Newtown Avenue in Blackrock in Dublin over a week ago, and I had seen a most shocking sight.

A few weeks ago, Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown made the dire decision to construct, build and a layout of three sections of car park in the middle of the road, to make things worse built beside a bicycle lane. The work is already done and the road 'supposedly' back to normal.

Newtown Avenue in the past did cater for two way traffic. Bus routes like the 17, from 1970 to around late 80's, went from There to Rialto. And the 45 bus to Bray used to go travel there long ago in both directions. Nowadays, the 7, 8 and 45 bus go there.

Only about half of this road has the new layout. At three sections of the road, they have car parks bulid right in the middle, no foundations just road markings, a bicycle lane Adjacent from Seapoint Avenue to St. John the Baptist Church. There is a bollard where predestrians can cross over the road, constructed to near to the end of this new layout.

At the third and last car park, this where the bit is contraversial. A bus stop loacted on the left hand side, in the middle lane, the car park. And finally, the bicycle lane on the very right hand side.

So, that is three lanes on the road WITH NO OTHER WAY OF CARS GETTING THROUGH. :eek:

So, What do you say to that now?

foggy_lad

Pictures might help? I don't know the road and your description is confusing in parts.

Cookie_Monster

this should be in the roads forum...

dublinman1990

foggy_lad wrote: »

Pictures might help? I don't know the road and your description is confusing in parts.

There is an associated article with this link here below.

See what you of think of it.

http://cyclingindublin.com/2011/12/04/is-this-the-best-designed-contra-flow-cycle-lane-in-dublin/

the groutch

they need to stop running buses down there. there's been times it's taken 10 minutes to get down that road.
imo all buses should bypass the village completely.

Seaswimmer

dublinman1990 wrote: »

I was walking down Newtown Avenue in Blackrock in Dublin over a week ago, and I had seen a most shocking sight.

A few weeks ago, Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown made the dire decision to construct, build and a layout of three sections of car park in the middle of the road, to make things worse built beside a bicycle lane. The work is already done and the road 'supposedly' back to normal.

Newtown Avenue in the past did cater for two way traffic. Bus routes like the 17, from 1970 to around late 80's, went from There to Rialto. And the 45 bus to Bray used to go travel there long ago in both directions. Nowadays, the 7, 8 and 45 bus go there.

Only about half of this road has the new layout. At three sections of the road, they have car parks bulid right in the middle, no foundations just road markings, a bicycle lane Adjacent from Seapoint Avenue to St. John the Baptist Church. There is a bollard where predestrians can cross over the road, constructed to near to the end of this new layout.

At the third and last car park, this where the bit is contraversial. A bus stop loacted on the left hand side, in the middle lane, the car park. And finally, the bicycle lane on the very right hand side.

So, that is three lanes on the road WITH NO OTHER WAY OF CARS GETTING THROUGH. :eek:

So, What do you say to that now?

I am not sure what your point is. If you are saying there is no way for cars to get through when the bus is stopped at the stop then there are many other areas in Dublin with the same problem. They just have to wait until the bus moves off.
Its a one way street for cars and buses so I am not sure where the big issue is??

If you think that that is an example of a bad road, you have not travelled around Ireland much...

monument

What's the problem exactly?

LXFlyer

I fail to see what the problem is - OP I'd have to say that you seem to be very disturbed about very minor items based on your posts so far.

It's a well designed contra-flow cycle lane, with car parking.

If a bus stops at the stop then the traffic waits - it's not going to be for long.

I would however agree with the groutch - the buses (excepting the 17 and 114) should be using the bypass.

dublinman1990

lxflyer wrote: »

I fail to see what the problem is - OP I'd have to say that you seem to be very disturbed about very minor items based on your posts so far.

It's a well designed contra-flow cycle lane, with car parking.

If a bus stops at the stop then the traffic waits - it's not going to be for long.

I would however agree with the groutch - the buses (excepting the 17 and 114) should be using the bypass.

In regards to other roads, I have travelled by car on a road from Athlone to Mullingar last autumn. There is no straight road there all for the whole journey, it just has bendy, narrow winding roads all the way through from the one place to the other. The average journey time lasts 1 hour.

In comparison, I travelled from Athlone to Roscommon, and the roads leading into Roscommon are a lot wider, straighter and faster to get through. The journey time there, even though Roscommon is a smaller town than Mullingar, is cut by half to 30 minutes.

And these are roads even without a bicycle lane, I might add.

Victor

dublinman1990 wrote: »

In regards to other roads, I have travelled by car on a road from Athlone to Mullingar last autumn. There is no straight road there all for the whole journey, it just has bendy, narrow winding roads all the way through from the one place to the other. The average journey time lasts 1 hour.

And if you use the M6-N52 instead?

Compare: http://maps.google.ie/maps?saddr=Ballymahon+Rd%2FN55&daddr=Unknown+road&hl=en&ll=53.512551,-7.56546&spn=0.415658,1.138458&sll=53.515716,-7.343845&sspn=0.051954,0.142307&geocode=FSJMLwMd7BSH_w%3BFehNMAMdvCeQ_w&vpsrc=6&dirflg=h&mra=dme&mrsp=1&sz=13&t=m&z=10 = 46.1 km, 51 mins with http://maps.google.ie/maps?saddr=Ballymahon+Rd%2FN55&daddr=Unknown+road&hl=en&ll=53.427537,-7.627258&spn=0.416491,1.138458&sll=53.512551,-7.56546&sspn=0.415658,1.138458&geocode=FSJMLwMd7BSH_w%3BFehNMAMdvCeQ_w&vpsrc=0&mra=ls&t=m&z=10 = 55.4 km, 36 mins

In comparison, I travelled from Athlone to Roscommon, and the roads leading into Roscommon are a lot wider, straighter and faster to get through. The journey time there, even though Roscommon is a smaller town than Mullingar, is cut by half to 30 minutes.

Note that Athlone to Roscommon is much shorter at 29.1 km, 27 mins compared to 46-55km to Mullingar. All distances bypass to bypass.

saywhatyousee

The N16 and parts of the N17

thebman

Doesn't sound too bad TBH. Keep in mind that traffic is two way on this piece of road coming up to the main road between Tullamore and Birr:
http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=53.176772,-7.727079&spn=0.012603,0.077162&sll=53.307493,-7.634726&sspn=0.027848,0.077162&vpsrc=6&t=m&z=14&layer=c&cbll=53.176873,-7.727087&panoid=q-dzkGWvWQmLQDmHpy2PIg&cbp=12,187.11,,0,9.31

I'm sure there are worse examples but I drove down this one once and made a mental note not to end up on that road again. At the junction the buildings and parked cars on the main street also obscure your vision so you can't see if it is safe to pull out onto the main road.

Basically if you have room for bicycles and cars and a bus can actually make it down the road, you've living in luxury compared to a lot of the country.

I had a better example of a road near me that I use to get to work that has a bump so bad, it once knocked the back axle of a school bus, killing a school girl in the process but bumps and uneven road surfaces don't really show up well in photos. It is still just as bad though with no proper repairs done despite the accident that occurred there.

Cookie_Monster

The coast road in Clontarf (Clontarf Rd) has to be the worst surface in a city in Ireland, the concrete is a horrendous mess of a surface and exceptionally dangerous to cycle on IMO, giving little grip, constant vibration, plenty of cracks and holes to try and avoid, poor visibility of lines on the grey surface; especially in the wet and sun and the heavy traffic to top it off.

In general there are worse patches on many road but the length and consist crappiness of the surface is why it gets my vote

AlekSmart

lxflyer wrote: »

I would however agree with the groutch - the buses (excepting the 17 and 114) should be using the bypass.

Incredibly enough,after quite a period of intensive negotiations during which Drivers refused to continue with the tradition of barging a way through Blackrock Village,Dublin Bus management recently came over the Radio Control airwaves crowing loudly that "All Buses are now back into Blackrock Village,bothe directions"

The announcement was made in tones more suited to "Peace in our Time" or "The recession has ended" than an admission that services were once again receeding back to 19th Century methods of operation.

For some wildly incomprehensible reason,the CIE group companies tend to regard new roads infrastructure as being threateneing to life as they know it.

This results,usually,in the companies grumpily continuing as normal,until events or passengers force a rethink.

In Bus Eireann terms,this intransigence tends to result in the Private competition being handed yet another advantage in order for the State company to facilitate a few good people who have "always" had a service to their door.

However,in Dublin Bus's case itv appears to be simple fear of change which governs the attitude,which sees multi-million € improvements which benefit the greater population being robustly ignored in the interests of a (very) few.

I have heard,that many years ago,the Archdioscese of Dublin was "concerned" that re-routing the 7,8 and 45 route from Newton Avenue would "greatly inconvienience" the faithful en route to/from worship in St John the Baptist church.

A mere telephone call is all that would have been required and not a trace would remain......sometimes old habits die hard....;)

Gareth2011

I used to live in Monkstown. If you went down to the main rd on the seafront and went right at the traffic lights (left for booterstowns rd, right for blackrock) and follow rd round to the left. Keep going straight and bank of Ireland is in front of you, spar on your right? Is that the rd?

AlekSmart

Seaswimmer wrote: »

I am not sure what your point is. If you are saying there is no way for cars to get through when the bus is stopped at the stop then there are many other areas in Dublin with the same problem. They just have to wait until the bus moves off.
Its a one way street for cars and buses so I am not sure where the big issue is??

Seaswimmer raises an interesting point here.

The notion of a Bus Stop (particularly a busy one) being utilized as a traffic calming measure is actually now quite widely accepted.

TfL in london,for example now regularly incorporate such concepts into their Roads & Streets design.

I also believe that the Garda authorities have recently adopted this principle,with the first such specific example installed in the Blanchardstown area (Not sure of specific location).

The general principle is that the number of constantly stopping buses acts as a set of dynamic speed-humps,forcing folowing and approaching traffic to slow-down or Stop whilst the Bus remains in place.

The Bus Stop will usually be level with or built-out from the kerb and may well have a centre traffic reservation parallell to it to physically prevent overtaking...although the UK practice of utilising a painted solid-bordered reservation will NOT work here.

The Irish specification will require at least 200 mm high kerbing and perhaps Armco Barrier in order to be remotely effective.

Gareth2011

AlekSmart wrote: »

although the UK practice of utilising a painted solid-bordered reservation will NOT work here.

You got that right. Most people sit in yellow box's at junctions so as not to let traffic out cause they will miss their turn to go through the light.

dublinman1990

Gareth2011 wrote: »

I used to live in Monkstown. If you went down to the main rd on the seafront and went right at the traffic lights (left for booterstowns rd, right for blackrock) and follow rd round to the left. Keep going straight and bank of Ireland is in front of you, spar on your right? Is that the rd?

Yes you are correct, that is Idrone Terrace in Blackrock.

donspeekinglesh

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

The coast road in Clontarf (Clontarf Rd) has to be the worst surface in a city in Ireland, the concrete is a horrendous mess of a surface and exceptionally dangerous to cycle on IMO, giving little grip, constant vibration, plenty of cracks and holes to try and avoid, poor visibility of lines on the grey surface; especially in the wet and sun and the heavy traffic to top it off.

In general there are worse patches on many road but the length and consist crappiness of the surface is why it gets my vote

Agreed, it's dreadful.
(But you shouldn't be cycling on it when there's such a good cycle track next to it!)

Victor

Gareth2011 wrote: »

You got that right. Most people sit in yellow box's at junctions so as not to let traffic out cause they will miss their turn to go through the light.

Yellow boxes?







:pac:

Cookie_Monster

Agreed, it's dreadful.
(But you shouldn't be cycling on it when there's such a good cycle track next to it!)

The surface of the track it's good but you have no priority at junctions and it's often full of walkers. There is no compulsion to use it over the road and if the road surface was better I'd stay on the road every time